Last night was the most adventurous I have been in short culinary career - I decided to try seafood. For those of you who don't know my official food motto (yeah, it's never good when you have one of those...) I don't eat anything that swims, slithers, crawls, hops, eats poop, or grows in poop. I figured that if I cooked it in my own kitchen, maybe I would have a better appreciation for it. I chose the lobster and shrimp agnolotti with a tomato cream sauce because it sounded like it would be more pasta and sauce than straight fish.
Boy, was I wrong. I cooked for three hours, took one bite and had to seriously focus on swallowing. Mike, on the other hand, loved it. At least I know I can cook seafood, even if I don't take a single bite! He ended up having this delicious homemade pasta, while I settled for buttered store bought noodles. Here's the finished product.
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| Lobster & Shrimp Agnolotti w/Tomato Cream Sauce |
Here's what the agnolotti looked like before I cooked them - they're super cute, aren't they? Now if only they were filled with something I liked! Agnolotti are a type of ravioli from the Piedmont region of Italy.
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| Agnolotti |
Ingredients
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons chopped shallot
1/2 pound shrimp (prawns), peeled and deveined
sea salt and fresh ground pepper
1/2 pound cooked lobster meat, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon plain fine dried bread crumbs
1 tablespoon minced fresh flat leaf (Italian) parsley
1 egg white
1 pound fresh egg pasta dough
2 1/2 cups tomato cream sauce
Directions
To make the filling, in a large frying pan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the shallot and saute until tender and golden. Add the shrimp, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper and saute until the shrimp are just opaque when cut into at the thickest part, about 2 minutes.
Scrape the shrimp mixture into a food processor, add the lobster, and pulse just until the shrimp and lobster are coarsely chopped. Add the 1 tablespoon bread crumbs and pulse just to blend. If the mixture seems wet and soft, pulse in another 1 tablespoon bread crumbs. add the parsley and egg white and pulse until evenly mixed. Scrape the mixture into a bowl, Cover and chill the filling for at least 1 hour or for up to overnight.
Make the pasta dough, then divide and roll out each piece into a shtte 1/16 inch thick. Lightly flour a rimmed baking sheet. Trim each pasta sheet into long strips that will fit on the baking sheet. Layer the strips flat on the prepared baking sheet, spacing them so they don't touch and spacing each layer with a lightly floured kitchen towel.
To make the agnolotti, place one pasta strip on a floured surface. Use a 2 inch round pastry cutter to make pasta circles. Place 1/2 teaspoon filling in the center of each circle. Lightly brush a little water around the filling, fold in half and press the edges to seal. Place in a single layer on another lightly floured baking sheet.
In a wide saucepan, gently warm the tomato cream sauce over low heat. Keep it warm while you cook the agnolotti.
Bring a large pot three-fourths full of water to a rolling boil. Add about 2 tablespoons salt, and then add the agnolotti and stir gently. Cook, stirring occasionally and adjusting the heat so the water simmers gently, until the angolotti rise to the surface and are al dente, 3-4 minutes.
Using a large slotted spoon, transfer to the sauce pan and toss gently to coat. Serve at once.
